Internship Information

The internship is a requirement for our women studies majors and students fulfill it by securing an internship in their communities and completing a journal and a few conversations about their experiences with other WGSS students in the online and on campus class. We have had students intern at their local women's shelter, rape crisis center, YWCA, Planned Parenthood, Girls on the Run, a local radio station, Ms Magazine, and more…

The purpose of this requirement is for students to experience the praxis of feminist theory at an organization working toward feminist goals. In addition to the experience you will gain, we also hope that you will develop relationships with professionals in the field who can mentor you and write recommendation letters for graduate school and job applications.

As an intern taking 3 credits, you work a total of 100 hours—this works out to a weekly commitment of about an hour on your writing and connection with classmates and about 9 hours at the organization. We have also had students break the credits up over 2-3 terms (33 hours per credit) to accommodate working and parenting schedules.

In this case, you could take 1 credit per term and work 3 hours per week at the internship or several weekends during a term. This is especially helpful for internships that have long shifts every so often (like shelter work) or with a once a week commitment like an LGBTQ youth afterschool program, or for project-based engagement like working on a planning committee for legislative action event like Big Push for Midwives or Planned Parenthood’s Legislative Action Team. (Just to mention a few ideas.)

You may take an additional 1-3 credits toward your major electives if you choose.

Most students do their internship in the junior or senior year. Our internship instructor, Dr. Liddy Detar, needs to have initial conversations with students the term prior to signing up for the credits so that all the paperwork with the supervisor on site can be completed in time for the internship to begin in week 1.